The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Chapter 2 Summary

What Lucy Found There

Lucy and the Faun exchange greetings. The Faun asks her if she is a "Daughter of Eve." Lucy doesn't really understand what he means and says that she's a human girl.

The Faun is very excited to find out that Lucy is human. He's never seen a human being before.

The Faun introduces himself as Tumnus, and Lucy, who is very polite, calls him Mr. Tumnus.

Mr. Tumnus asks Lucy how she got to Narnia. She's never heard of the country of Narnia before. Mr. Tumnus tells her that Narnia is a large country and extends from the lamp-post that they are standing under all the way to the castle of Cair Paravel on the eastern coast.

Lucy explains that she got to Narnia through the wardrobe in the spare room. Mr. Tumnus mistakes these for the names of countries.

Lucy tries to explain that her world is completely different from this one. She tells Mr. Tumnus that it is summer there, and he tells her that it has been winter in Narnia for a very long time.

Lucy wants to go back home and tell her brothers and sister about what she has seen, but Mr. Tumnus convinces her to go home with him and have tea. ("Tea" in England in the 1940s means an afternoon meal, probably with lots of sweet baked goods, so this sounds pretty good to Lucy.)

Mr. Tumnus leads Lucy through the woods to the hidden entrance of a cave. Lucy likes the cave a lot; it is dry and clean, with nice furniture, a fireplace with a fire burning merrily in it, a portrait of Mr. Tumnus's father, and a shelf of books.

Mr. Tumnus and Lucy eat their tea, which is a substantial meal, including boiled eggs, sardines on toast, and cakes.

When they finish eating, Mr. Tumnus tells Lucy about life in Narnia in the old days, before the long winter. He describes midnight dances, hunting parties, feasting, treasure-seeking, and many other amazing adventures. All the people in his stories are what we would think of as mythical creatures – fauns, dryads, nymphs, and dwarfs.

After his stories, Mr. Tumnus takes out a flute and begins to play a tune. The music makes Lucy sleepy and she sits motionless for a long time as she listens.

Suddenly Lucy jumps up, remembering that her brothers and sister will be worried about her. Mr. Tumnus is very upset and starts crying.

Lucy gives Mr. Tumnus her handkerchief and begs him to tell her what's wrong. Eventually he confesses that he is a spy for the White Witch.

Lucy says that she doesn't know who the White Witch is, and Mr. Tumnus explains that she is the tyrant who rules Narnia and makes it always winter, but never Christmas.

Lucy asks what Mr. Tumnus does for the Witch, and he explains that he agreed to become a kidnapper. The White Witch told him that if he ever met a human child, he must catch it and hand it over to her. Lucy is the first he's met, but, while he was lulling her to sleep, his conscience got the better of him.

Lucy insists that Mr. Tumnus must not hand her over to the Witch, but he is afraid of what will happen to him if he disobeys. He thinks she might mutilate or torture him, or maybe even turn him into stone.

Mr. Tumnus agrees with Lucy that, now that he's met her, he can't possibly turn her over to the Witch. The two of them creep stealthily back through the wood to the lamp-post; from there, Lucy knows her way back to the wardrobe.

Mr. Tumnus and Lucy say goodbye, and she lets him keep her handkerchief as a memento.

Lucy runs through the wood and soon finds herself back inside the wardrobe. She jumps into the empty room and closes the wardrobe door behind her.

Inside the spare room, Lucy can hear Peter, Susan, and Edmund outside in the hallway. She shouts to them that she has come back!